Guardians of Middle-earth out December 4

Guardians of Middle-earth (aka Tolkien-does-DotA (even though we just made that up)) is coming to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in the first week of December. Its official Twitter account announced the game will hit Xbox Live Arcade on December 5, and it's still on track for PlayStation Network and PS3 retail on December 4.

The multiplayer online battle arena is one of the first of its kind for consoles, letting players control two teams of five gathered from the ranks of Gandalf, Sauron, and their respective allies/lackies. The notoriously hardcore genre might seem out of place as a licensed console-exclusive, but we found a lot to like about the game in our June preview.

Guardians of Middle-earth will go for $15 on PSN and XBLA, or $30 at retail with pre-paid access to post-launch content.